Jenna Evans Welch

"After her mother dies, Lina travels to Italy where she discovers her mother's journal and sets off on an adventure to unearth her mother's secrets"--

Love & Gelato

becky oh

“This is sort of like a second honeymoon for us. I’ve wanted to visit Italy my whole life, and now here I am. You sure are a lucky duck, living here.”
Quack, quack, I thought.


Reading this shattered my heart a thousand different ways. I was crying, laughing and smiling while reading this book. And most of all, this book made me hope so much. Hoping this wouldn't break my heart, hoping the ending won't make me cry a river and hoping that this would have a happy ending. I was in love with this book, and I have officially declared that I had to eat a gelato in Italy, and maybe do all of the things Lina did.

I have kept reading this book until 1 in the morning, devouring each page with all my heart. I am so tired, my eyes feel like they will drop any moment but I still finished this book because stopping at a page made me feel like I couldn't sleep, and that my head would be making thousands of different scenarios of what would happen next.


  Maybe that was just part of the Italian experience. Come to Italy. Fall in love. Watch everything blow up in your face. You could probably read about it on travel websites.


Lina promised her mother that she would visit Italy. But Lina's not really in the mood for Italy's new shining life because she's still grieving over her mother's death. She just wants her life to be just, be, but when she receives a journal of her mother when she was in Italy, Linda finds out so many truths she didn't know. 

As she finds more about her mother's past, there's also this handsome-adorable-cute boy Ren, that makes her flutter. But just like her mother, Lina experiences things she didn't think she would. And for an example, falling in love.


  “You know, people come to Italy for all sorts of reasons, but when they stay, it’s for the same two things.”
“What?”
“Love and gelato.”


✨ Lina ✨
She was a funny character, quite cute and I had her american vibe from the book. I really liked her, and how social she could be when she wanted to be. She was easy going and all, but I could still feel her sadness about her mother's death. I quite liked how she was able to be positive, even if she might've been sad. I could tell her heart was strong. 
I really did like her enthusiasm with hanging around with Ren, looking through Italy and being herself. I liked that about her. 

✨ Ren ✨
He totally got my heart. Is he adorable? Check. Handsome? Check. Cute? Check. Unbelievably kind and warm towards Lina? Check, check! I found him as one of those guys who likes to open himself up to anyone and be friendly with. Only, I just didn't like that he had someone he liked. I was tiny bit jealous at the beginning bit, where a girl name Mimi is mentioned (she's Swedish, by the way) and how did I get jealous? By reading this:

“You have a bunch of grass in your hair,” I said. He shook his head like a dog, sending grass flying. 
“I was rolling down a hill.”
“A Swedish hill?” Thomas asked. 
“I didn’t ask its nationality.”

I think everyone can guess what they did so I'll pass for more details. But I could still feel that when he loved someone, he like gets into it. And I liked that. He loved Lina with all his heart.

✨ Other Characters ✨
I quite liked reading Lina's mother's journal. I could see that she liked adventures and she found love in Italy, maybe even a bit of Gelato... Howard is a nice guy, I suppose. He's kind, warm and welcoming and tries to be soft around Lina. I liked him. Elena, Mimi, Thomas were involved as well but not much. We also get some bits and pieces of Lina's best friend, Addie. If I remember correctly, the next book of this series is from Addie's POV. I'm waiting to read that!

I liked the whole story plot and all, but when Lina and Ren first met, they talked as if they knew each other before. Like, they kept asking questions and the conversation just happened. And after that, Ren just asks Lina if they could hang out together. I think that was a bit fast. I would've prefered slower romance between them because it felt a little rushed.

Personally, I think this book is more focused on family issues and realistic fiction, and Italy. Half of the things Ren and Lina does is finding more about her mother and as their adventures goes, they fall in love. I think that's how the romance part wiggled it's way in. 

It also involved some sentences in Italian that I didn't quite understand so I had to translate them into english from Google Translate. That was a bit annoying, since it stopped me from reading the book. But I liked some of those sentences. 

It also involves a lot of Italian culture. Believe it or not, I haven't been to Italy, and it's still in my bucket-list. Reading this now, makes me want to go to Italy right now. Eat Gelato and tour around the place. I really did fall in love with the setting of Italy.

Love & Gelato was a heart-warming book that was cute, funny and adorable. I fell in love with this book, gelato, Italy and the characters. It was an amazing read!

Chassity

Loved the mystery and the romance. also loved the endingg

Mellanie Ann Duque

At first I was completely unsure if I am going to read the book or not since it has been sitting on my book cabinet for months now. But I saw a post from Penguin Random House about summer reads that readers should try, which changed my mind.


I am the type of reader who easily gets bored with books that are so cheesy, that is why sometimes it’s really hard for me to look for perfect contemporary books to read and thankfully Love and Gelato is not one of them.


The synopsis itself have made me intrigue which made me read it in one sitting! Oh! this happens a lot when I enjoy reading a book. For me this novel is such easy to read and really fun too!

I love Lina so much, some part of her personality is so me lol. She’s adorable and fun to be with. And Ren, all I can say is He is so Cute! I am still fan-girling about him lol.


The concept of the story is good, characters are unique. 
This book will brought back my sweet summer memories that are worth to treasure.

 In this book Italy was well described throughout the story, everything is vivid.


I love this book because it’s not just about love but also looking for answers.


To Howard, I salute you for being a great man! You are indeed a very inspiring person.


There are no parts in this book that made me bored or confuse, in fact I was so eager to finish it and too afraid because everything is just beautiful.


To the author, thank you for showing me the beauty of Italy and the life it has…


All in all I enjoyed the book. If you are looking for something to read this summer that is light, fun and cute to read, this one is for you!

Ria 

Veronica 

pretty cute book. It had a nice aesthetic I guess since she was In Italy but i don’t think I would consider this book a romance… it was kinda the subplot of the book so idk it was okay

Agata 

Sarah Pino

3.75 ⭐️

I enjoyed this. I do feel like it lacked quite a bit of depth. I also wanted X to be kicked into a lake of alligators or crocodiles or whatever. 

Also, i do want some gelato right now

menna

maybe 3.5 because it was a super cute and fast read which is what i needed!

victoria

I totally forgot to write a review but let's go...
I planned to read this book in 3 days but the story was so interesting I finished in less than 24 hours lol. 
The romance is super cute and innocent, the setting was so well writing that made me wanna go to Italy, the mistery about the diary was really cool and my favorite part of the book, i also loved the development between Lina and her dad. 
It's a good book if you want to get out of your reading slump or if you need something to warm your heart, I can't wait to read the next books!

lea da silva

so good i had to read it again right after finishing it. last read of 2021 & first read of 2022 as it should be!

loren

hermosa y muy adictiva, me enamoré de esta historia!!! ❤️

Camryn Swinamer 

Such a cute and wholesome book. I loved Howard and REN’s characters and reading Hadley’s journal. This just made me happy

Christy Pigott

I wish I could go back and read this book for the first time OVER AND OVER! It was literally SO good! It is 100% my new favorite book! It’s so cute and has so many cute and unexpected things happening! I couldn’t put it down! I wish I could give this 50,000 stars! (Side Note… DO NOT WATCH THE MOVIE AFTER READING THE BOOK! 0 out of 5 stars! They completely botched the movie!! NOTHING is the same!) But seriously.. BUY THE BOOK!!!!! I can’t wait to read Love And Olives!! :)

Love & Gelato

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